6 Ripley Avenue is Noelle Holten's first standalone thriller following the success of her Maggie Jamieson series, of which I'm a huge fan, so I was very excited to read it and I was not disappointed.

Told from various perspectives, the plot centres around the murder of an offender in a probation hostel. With a house full of killers, any one of the offenders could have done it so the police have their work cut out. It's not just the offenders who have motive though, neighbours and staff are all under suspicion. I could say that I got the murderer right but that's only because I suspected everybody at one time or another.

I found it really interesting to glimpse inside a probation hostel and seeing the challenges that brings for staff, offenders and neighbours was very enlightening. It's certainly not a job I could do so I really must applaud people who work in the probation service. Just remembering all of the many acronyms is challenging enough!

Gripping, tense and filled with suspense, 6 Ripley Avenue is another winner from Noelle Holten and it's well worth a read.

I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour; this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was an awesome book. Definitely a new perspective as I don’t think I’ve read anything before about criminals housed together in a thriller (other than in jail obviously).
I really enjoyed it and it kept me hooked and interested.
Definitely a book to pick up!

I am a bit bummed about this one. I expected a really good plotline after reading the description, and although it started that way, it moved way too slow to enjoy. I usually like multiple POVs but actually felt this one distracted away from the main plot with too many characters and POVs. The plot sounded so interesting and promising, but the execution was just far too slow. The pace never really picked up either and although there are short chapters, they didn't immediately draw me into the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If I had to describe this book in one sentence, I would say :

"6 Ripley Avenue, sets the new bar for the thriller genre" .

Noelle Holten is a force to be reckoned with and an author we need to keep our eye on. I also heard through the grape vine that Holten has a true crime blog, and you bet your sweet cheeks I will be checking that out as well.

I first noticed this book because of its edgy and mysterious cover but I was also intrigued by the title. After reading the synopsis it became a "no brainer" on whether or not I would request this book.

I am so happy I did....

I finished this book in one sitting, it wasn't hard. I didn't grow restless, I didn't have a need to put it down and I became completely consumed in the storyline. This is an edge of your seat "whodunnit" that will leave you breathless anticipating the next move.

The twist?

Brace yourself.

I would highly recommend everyone run on over to their favorite bookstore to purchase 6 Ripley Avenue, this has book of the year written all over it!

Kudos to you Noelle Holten, you slayed with this one!

A gritty read that dives into the balance of known criminals living in a neighbourhood. Tense moments, twists and turns, and some jaw dropping moments.
This was overall a very good read but I did struggle a bit to connect with the characters.
The plot was well thought out and well written.

Jeanette is the manager of 6 Ripley Avenue, a Probation Hostel for high-risk offenders that are on License. Which is housed on a normal residential street. The residents are not happy that is there, and they don’t feel safe from its occupants.
Sloane is a freelance investigative journalist for the local newspaper and keeps an eye of the comings and goings of 6 Ripley House and can’t wait for something to happen so she can get her big scoop for the newspaper.
At 3am Jeanette gets a call from the night staff to say one of the offenders have been murdered at the hostel. There is a list a whole list of suspects and Jeanette worries who she can trust. When Sloane finds out. She is determined to find out what happened that night and find out who the killer is. She gets help from volunteer at the hostel Helen, who also lives next door to the hostel and blames the death of her husband Malcolm in what is going on at the hostel. Sloane wonders why she is even working there.
Thank you, Harper One more chapter for a copy of 6 Ripley Avenue. This is a great, gripping thriller from Noelle Holten and although it is different from her other books, I think that it is the authors best book to date!!! Five stars

⭐

DNF @chapter 16

I threw in the towel on this one at chapter 16. This should have been right up my alley, but the major continuity issues were just glaring. One, the journalist doesnøt know who has been murdered when she write her article. next chapter she is asking about the person who got murdered by name. Then, and this one was mind blowing. The killer buries the evidence in the yard. He dug a hole and everything. Then in chapter 16 he is taking the evidence from under the floorboards in his ROOM. I mean...come on! I know ARCs are not the finished copies, but even for an ARC this was ridiculous! 😂😂

6 Ripley House is an Approved Premises, housing several violent offenders released from prison on licence. Told from multiple points of view, we discover a nasty piece of work, Danny Wells is brutally murdered. Crime journalist Sloane, and nosy neighbour Helen try their best to get involved to find out who committed this crime.
The book has such promise but a bit slow on delivery.

This was an interesting crime novel in the way it was told and i liked hearing first hand from the killer and third person for all the other characters. The pacing and action was done well and i flew through this book as it kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters for the most part were well developed and everything made sense in relation to who did it. There were a couple of moments that didn't work entirely for me but it was nothing major that derailed the story too much for me. Overall, a very enjoyable and thrilling read.

An interesting read that will definitely start a conversation - also perfect for a book club. Very much appreciated the pace of the plot and that undercurrent of tension. Would be interested to read more from this author.

After reading the description I was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately this just didn’t hold my interest. There was a lot of jumping around of narrators & it was rather long winded. Plenty of twists & cliff hangers but I struggled to stay engaged. Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for the preview.

**Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for this arc, all thoughts are my own.**

The story centers around a controversial hostel for high risk offenders who go there to serve out the rest of their sentence. When the unpopular Danny Wells is found murdered in the early hours of the morning, Jeanette the officer in charge is on damage control because the people in the community surrounding the hostel already don't like it, and will only think even worse.

Helen is eighty-six and is in charge of the neighborhood watch for the area. She decides to volunteer in the kitchen at the hostel to keep an eye on what's going on. Helen is friends with Sloan, who is a journalist, that has a lot to say about Ripley house, ever since it opened its doors.

After Danny's murder, the three women begin digging into the hostel and realize that there is more happening than they realized. Of course, this information puts them in the danger zone.
Throughout the story you also get the killers point of view, and they believe they are justified in what they're doing and don't see any wrong in it.

It took a bit for me to get into this book, the writing didn't capture me like I had hoped, as the premise to this story was interesting enough and I wanted to enjoy it more than i did.

6 Ripley Avenue was told from the different points of view of several characters and you could see that the writer had knowledge and experience of the subject that the book was wrote around having her own experiance working as a probation officer which added depth to the writing.

The book felt slow in parts and slightly predictable which meant it was hard to keep engaged but the parts were the anti was upped made me keep reading till the end.

Murder in an approved premise?
Who done it?
ingredients for success, but why did it not work for me?
Jeanette is really unlikeable and it does not seem like the police are in any way competent which is daft as it's in no way realistic, An investigative journalist and a nosy neighbour can figure out more than them? I'm sorry, but I find it very hard to believe when it's murder we are talking about, the murder of a convicted criminal who would be within their sights, especially when he is so well managed. Not buying it. The pace was really off as well, some of the chapters not really offering anything from characters I did not like.

Thank you Harper Collins and NetGalley!

This is a wickedly suspenseful read.  It is a quick-witted whodunit with enough potential suspects to keep you guessing until the very end. I appreciated how the several narratives presented various viewpoints and thoughts on the "incident". The Killer, Janette, the probation officer, Slone, the journalist, and Helen, the prying neighbor, alternately share their POV's. As the inquiry develops through various narratives with little to no police intervention, I truly enjoyed this approach. Helen is a fantastic character because she gave the story a toasty-crime vibe, but when Sloane and The Killer's darker stories are added in, the result is a brilliantly calibrated criminal thriller.

Danny Wells is a convicted murder, out of prison on licence and living in the approved probation hostel at 6 Ripley Avenue. Now Danny is dead.
There are potentially eight killers but no one saw a thing.
The narrators of the story are Sloane, the reporter whose sister was the victim of a brutal murder., Helen the neighbour who doesn't want the hostel next door to her, Jeanette the hostel manager and 'The killer' whoever they may be.
The pace of the story is OK though not break-neck and my only complaint about the writing would be that suddenly about 2/3 of the way in Sloane opened the 'closet' and ran 'two blocks.' I think in Coventry she would have opened the wardrobe and ran a couple of streets. I know I'm being picky but they just didn't sit right with me.
I was tempted to give this a 4 but realised that the only things that were bothering me were the couple of things I've mentioned and a bit of bad grammar along the way. However this was probably an un-proofed copy so I can't mark it down for that. However when 'the Killer' was revealed, I hadn't seen it coming so it was bumped back up to a 5.
Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a cleverly written standalone thriller this is. You’ve heard of a captive audience, well this was a captive set of suspects not a locked room mystery but certainly a restricted cast of characters.

I was hooked straightaway, with chapters written from a variety of viewpoints including the killer. What used to be referred to as ‘a halfway house’, the setting is a probation hostel in a normal suburban street which aggravates the neighbours & intrigues a journalist, Sloane.

A steady paced read which held my interest & I loved Sloane, hope we see him again. Highly recommended.

6 Ripley Avenue is a halfway house for criminals returning to normal life. These are hardened criminals convicted of the worst crimes. It’s not unbelievable when one house guest is found murdered in the house. The question is who and why?

This book is told from multiple POV, including the Killer. I thought that was very unique to have the Killer’s POV. As I read it I tried to figure out the killer based on their chapters. I’ll admit I did not figure it out until the very end.

What caught my eye first was the cover. It tells you perfectly what you will find inside and I loved looking at it. Once I started reading I loved the multiple POV and could picture the background of the story. I really enjoyed this book.

Ohhhh this is a great read and has so many things in it that I really love in a book!
I love how each chapter is based on the stories characters so you know who’s point of view you are getting, and each character felt like such a strong personality that you really get a feel for them.
The way in which this book is written also gave me such a clear image in my mind of the hostel, Helen’s house and each scene that happened played out so clearly in my head due to how well they had been written.
You can really tell that Noelle Holten knows what she is talking about when you read this book as it just feels so authentic and is explained in a way that doesn’t slow, or interrupt the flow of the story.
I have really enjoyed this book and have gasped several times and have been left with many cliffhangers that left me wondering what on earth will happen next!
I happily give this book 5 stars
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I jumped at the chance to read this one as I love Noelle’s Dead series. It is a little rawer than your average crime series. I love when a book is basically a crime procedural, and we follow someone other than a detective trying to solve the case. it adds a little twist to solving the murder. And unlike a cozy with an amateur detective, this is still gritty. We get the perspectives of a free-lance crime reporter, an elderly neighbor and a manager at a hostel or halfway house for paroled prisoners. In addition, we get chapters from an anonymous killer.

Since we are flipping back and forth with different narrators, the small cliffhangers at the end of some of the chapters have more bang, since you have to wait a chapter or two to pick back up with the character and find out what happens next. It is a good ploy to keep you not wanting to stop reading. It took me a couple of chapters to get invested, but once I was, I did not want to put it down. I guessed the killer pretty early on, but the odds of me figuring out before I am supposed to is high. I’m an auditor in the non-fictional world and pick up on the small clues.

A good pace and interesting characters kept me wanting more. I highly recommend this one.